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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
From Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

“It is a condition of monsters that they do not perceive themselves as such. The dragon, you know, hunkered in the village devouring maidens, heard the townsfolk cry 'Monster!' and looked behind him.”

Monday, April 29, 2013

Out of Breath by Bliar Richmond

Nineteen-year-old Kat Jones has been a competitive runner since she was a young girl, but after her mother's death, the path her life was supposed to take begins to crumble around her -- until one day, she finds herself on the run in a literal sense, this time in a race for her very life.

Kat's journey takes her to the Pacific Northwest town of Lithia, the place of her last good memories, of the days when her mother was still alive. But soon after her arrival, strange things begin to happen in Lithia -- and when one of her new friends disappears under mysterious circumstances, Kat begins to realize that Lithia's inhabitants are not all of this world. Worst of all, she is falling in love with one of these otherworldly locals, and the friend who hopes to save her has secrets of his own.

As Kat tries to rebuild her life, she is also training for a race that will turn out to be her biggest challenge yet, as she must outrun not only the demons of her past but the demons of the here and now, who threaten her very existence and that of the entire town...This was an interesting beginning to what promises to be a satisfying trilogy. What I enjoyed most, even more than the characters themselves, was the setting. There’s a great ambiance to the book, creating this feeling of mystery and possibly danger around the plot. I think it’s worth reading just to experience that feeling of being completely taken in by the story.

But the characters didn’t disappoint, either. Kat, the protagonist, was the kind of resilient heroine that we need to keep in most young adult books. She is a fully-capable young woman who you immediately start cheering for. I did, however, think that the love story, the love triangle, was not as well handled as the rest. It’s too abrupt, a bit jarring to the reader, for this love triangle to sprout without too much warning. I would have preferred to have read something more gradual.

But this is a fun book that can be easily read in a day or two, so if you’re willing to be forgiving to the “insta-love” thing, then actually it’s a great choice.

Ghost Runner by Blair Richmond

You can't outrun your past...

In The Ghost Runner, Kat is still in Lithia, trying not to see Roman’s face everywhere she looks. It’s not easy, but she tries to move on: She starts taking classes at the local college, keeps up with her job at the running store, and is beginning a relationship with Alex.

Yet Kat’s past is never far behind, and as old ghosts begin to catch up with her, she finds herself fighting to defend the things she believes in, from the hope of a new family to the deeply wooded forests that she has begun to call home. As her relationship with Alex begins to crumble, a new secret from her past emerges, and she is once again torn between those she loves as she struggles to reconcile her dark past with her hopes for a brighter future.

The Ghost Runner, continuing Kat's adventures in Out of Breath, brings us further into the mysterious town of Lithia, where the old traditions of logging and gold mining—and the new traditions of development—collide with conservation. Meanwhile, the spirits of the town keep watch over everything—and occasionally find it necessary to intervene…

A sequel is always a tricky book to write. Being
able to keep the characters’ voices fresh in the author’s mind is no easy thing
to accomplish, but in this case, I think the sequel is just as good as the
original.

I enjoyed the subtle personality changes that we see
with Katherine. She has evolved as a character, which is what we wish out of
all our protagonists: to see a bit of a change in the way they look at life.
She can get a bit on the whiny side sometimes, but it’s not nearly enough to
put me off reading the book. We also get to see a bit more of Alex in this
book, which is definitely a plus. The many little side plots work well, adding
to the overall plot without distracting the reader.

This is a fun addition to its genre and one that I
easily recommend to all lovers of paranormal fiction.

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…• Describe one of your reading habits.• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.Currently, I'm reading In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell. Apart from the really, really long title, I'm loving it. It's such a lush story with an almost fairytale-like feel to it that is a joy to read. Just gorgeous writing and a fabulous (and I mean that literally) story.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Q: Is there a song that reminds you of a book? Or vice versa? What is the song & the book?

Absolutely. There are lots, actually. But one that comes to mind is Tori Amos' "Concertina" which for some reason reminds me of the last two Harry Potter books. I don't really know why. Maybe I was just listening to this song a lot when the books came out. I listen to this song a lot, anyway, so it could have easily coincided.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

When people started getting sick, “they” thought it was just the flu. My roommate, my boyfriend, my family…they’re all gone now. I got sick too. I should have died with them—with the rest of the world—but I didn’t. I thought witnessing the human population almost disappear off the face of the earth was the craziest thing I’d ever experience. I was so wrong. My name is Dani O’Connor, I’m twenty-six-years-old, and I survived The Ending.

The Virus changed everything. The world I knew is gone, and life is backwards. We’ve all had to start over. I’ve been stripped of my home, my dreams…all that is me. I’m someone else now—broken and changed. Other survivors’ memories and emotions haunt me. They invade my mind until I can no longer separate them from my own. I won’t let them consume me. I can’t. My name is Zoe Cartwright, I’m twenty-six-years-old, and I survived The Ending.

We’ve been inseparable for most of our lives, and now our friendship is all we have left. The aftermath of the Virus has stranded us on opposite sides of the United States. Trusting strangers, making sacrifices, killing—we’ll do anything to reach one another. Fear and pain may be unavoidable, but we’re strong…we’re survivors. But to continue surviving in this unfamiliar world plagued by Crazies and strange new abilities, we have to adapt. We have to evolve.

And more than anything, we have to find each other.

I seem to be having a bout of bad luck with my
fiction choices, especially in the post-apocalyptic genre. This one sounded
like a quick-paced, action-filled thriller and ended up as one of the slowest
books I’ve read so far this year.

There’s just no way of sugar-coating it: the writing
is bad. Cringe-worthy bad. There are not only basic grammatical issues but also
stylistic ones that make most readers want to fling the book away. There is too
much “telling” instead of “showing” and this gets in the way of the already
diluted plot. Add to that characters who are so underdeveloped you can
interchange them or meld them into one and still have basically the same book,
and you have one dull read.

Zoe and Dani, the two protagonists, are suddenly
thrust into this post-apocalyptic world that is never really completely explained.
Yes, there is a virus that takes out most of the population, but we don’t
really get much about it, not even through flashbacks. But never mind that.
What was most disconcerting about the two of them was that although society had
crumbled around them, these two women were more interested in getting *pardon
the expression* laid than anything else. The amount of time spent obsession
over one man or another was absolutely ludicrous. And that’s not even the worst
part about it: one of them actually loses a husband to the disease yet seems to
completely forget him as she drools over another guy.

I’m not going to go on and on about it because it’s
not worth it. Steer clear of this book. It will make you cringe.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting.

Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside -- safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid.

She's different. She survived. Why?

When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy.

Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions -- which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses -- may actually be their greatest strengths.

Bestselling author Margaret Stohl delivers the first book in a heart-pounding series set in a haunting new world where four teens must piece together the mysteries of their pasts -- in order to save the future.

I wanted to like this; I really did. It sounded like
such a good story, I mean, aliens and a post-apocalyptic world? Fabulous.
Sadly, though the premise is good, the story falls quite short.

The main issue is the pacing. This book is SLOW. I
know that when you have a bit of world-building to do the pacing will slow
down, but throughout the whole book it doesn’t feel like much happens until the
last sixty pages or so. For a YA book, this is not good. It doesn’t help that
the characters themselves are quite dull, with nothing but their so called “powers”
to differentiate them. None of them have any complexities, not even Dol, who is
our narrator.

The love story, if it can really be called that, is
not developed enough to make a difference. It doesn’t make the reader’s heart
beat faster or increase the tension at all. It’s supposed to distract from the
book’s failings and it doesn’t quite achieve even that.

This is just not a book I can recommend. It is so similar
to so many other books in the YA genre that it’s amazing how anyone can bother
with it. There's better stuff to read .

Monday, April 22, 2013

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…• Describe one of your reading habits.• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.Right now, I'm reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. So far, I'm really enjoying it. It's not as different as I'd like it to be, not as engrossing, either, but, it's definitely a good read. I have the second one in the series as well, so I'll read that one next.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
From Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

"'It's not like there's a law against flying.' 'Yes there is. The law of gravity.'”

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Elizabeth Caldwell doesn’t feel emotions . . . she sees them. Longing, Shame, and Courage materialize around her classmates. Fury and Resentment appear in her dysfunctional home. They’ve all given up on Elizabeth because she doesn’t succumb to their touch. All, that is, save one—Fear. He’s intrigued by her, as desperate to understand the accident that changed Elizabeth’s life as she is herself.

Elizabeth and Fear both sense that the key to her past is hidden in the dream paintings she hides in the family barn. But a shadowy menace has begun to stalk her, and try as she might, Elizabeth can barely avoid the brutality of her life long enough to uncover the truth about herself. When it matters most, will she be able to rely on Fear to save her?

This story took me by surprise. I expected the usual
in the young adult genre, the instant love and weak, underdeveloped heroines,
so it was a definite surprise to see that most of these things were avoided.

The heroine, Elizabeth, although a little annoying
at first, certainly grows on the reader. She is different, since she can feel
no emotions, which makes her an interesting character to read about. The other
main character is Fear, one of the Emotions. He is quite snarky, which makes
him a good contrast to Elizabeth’s passivity.

The plot is different enough so that it doesn’t fade
into the large pile of YA books out there today. It keeps the reader interested
from the very beginning and doesn’t lose steam as the chapters move forward.
The author is able to give us a proper ending, though I suppose there is room
for a sequel if she wants it. It’s refreshing to read a YA book with a proper
conclusion and not an open-ended one.

All in all, I do recommend this book to all of you
who love the YA genre. It’s an addition to the genre worth reading.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Frieda Klein is a solitary, incisive psychotherapist who spends her sleepless nights walking along the ancient rivers that have been forced underground in modern London. She believes that the world is a messy, uncontrollable place, but what we can control is what is inside our heads. This attitude is reflected in her own life, which is an austere one of refuge, personal integrity, and order.

The abduction of five-year-old Matthew Farraday provokes a national outcry and a desperate police hunt. And when his face is splashed over the newspapers, Frieda cannot ignore the coincidence: one of her patients has been having dreams in which he has a hunger for a child. A red-haired child he can describe in perfect detail, a child the spitting image of Matthew. She finds herself in the center of the investigation, serving as the reluctant sidekick of the chief inspector.

Drawing readers into a haunting world in which the terrors of the mind have spilled over into real life, Blue Monday introduces a compelling protagonist and a chilling mystery that will appeal to readers of dark crime fiction and fans of In Treatment and The Killing.

This is a fabulous psychological thriller that will keep you up long into the night to find out just what happens next.

Like all good thrillers, the plot starts at once and never really stops. Although we don’t see all the connections at first, we are riveted by the few story lines to which we are introduced. The writing is crisp, sharp, just like a thriller should be, letting the pages slide by without us noticing them.

Frieda, the protagonist, is a cleverly written psychoanalyst with the perfect amount of edge to make her a fun character to follow. Add to that a strange European named Josef and a disturbed man experiencing unexplainable panic attacks, and we have a rich narrative with just the right amount of tension. This has to be one of my favorite thrillers I’ve read this year, mainly because the plot is so nicely handled and what could turn into a gimmick actually feels plausible.

I highly recommend this book for all lovers of mysteries and thrillers.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

In Viking times, Norse myths predicted the end of the world, an event called Ragnarok that only the gods can stop. When this apocalypse happens, the gods must battle the monsters—wolves the size of the sun, serpents that span the seabeds—all bent on destroying the world.

The gods died a long time ago.

Matt Thorsen knows every Norse myth, saga, and god as if it was family history—because it is family history. Most people in the modern-day town of Blackwell, South Dakota, in fact, are direct descendants of either Thor or Loki, including Matt’s classmates Fen and Laurie Brekke.

However, knowing the legends and completely believing them are two different things. When the rune readers reveal that Ragnarok is coming and kids—led by Matt—will stand in for the gods in the final battle, he can hardly believe it. Matt, Laurie, and Fen’s lives will never be the same as they race to put together an unstoppable team to prevent the end of the world.

A fantastic tale full of adventure and excitement,
this is a great choice for adults and children alike.

We don’t read much about Norse mythology, which is
why this book caught my attention in the first place. Nowadays, when everything
is magical and unique ideas are hard to come by, especially in the children’s
market, it was refreshing to read something like this book. I loved it from
beginning to end. Not once did I find myself bored or skimming the pages. The
writing is succinct, the chapters move quickly and the action begins at once.
All of this makes it a great choice for middle graders. Not only that, but by
having both male and female protagonists, it caters to the hardest group, the
middle grade boys, without alienating the girls. The characters were all unique
and kids with whom we could relate, even as adults.

It is, of course, the first book in a series, so
there were many things left unanswered. I would have preferred a bit more
closure in the book, but that’s just a personal taste.

I recommend this for all lovers of the Harry Potter
books and the Olympus books.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…• Describe one of your reading habits.• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.I just started reading Blue Monday by Nicci French, a psychological thriller than I'm really enjoying so far. The protagonist is a psychiatrist with her own issues to work through, so it makes for some interesting reading. It's the first book in a series, so I'm looking forward to reading the next books!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

From a debut novelist, a gripping historical thriller and rousing love story set in seventeenth-century Manhattan

It’s 1663 in the tiny, hardscrabble Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, now present-day southern Manhattan. Orphan children are going missing, and among those looking into the mysterious state of affairs are a quick-witted twenty-two-year-old trader, Blandine von Couvering, herself an orphan, and a dashing British spy named Edward Drummond.

Suspects abound, including the governor’s wealthy nephew, a green-eyed aristocrat with decadent tastes; an Algonquin trapper who may be possessed by a demon that turns people into cannibals; and the colony’s own corrupt and conflicted orphanmaster. Both the search for the killer and Edward and Blandine’s newfound romance are endangered, however, when Blandine is accused of being a witch and Edward is sentenced to hang for espionage. Meanwhile, war looms as the English king plans to wrest control of the colony.

Jean Zimmerman brings New Amsterdam and its surrounding wilderness alive for modern-day readers with exacting period detail. Lively, fast paced, and full of colorful characters, The Orphanmaster is a dramatic page-turner that will appeal to fans of Hilary Mantel and Geraldine Brooks.

A lush, historical novel, this book will tantalize
you with an era of American history you with which you might not be too well
acquainted.

New Amsterdam is a burgeoning community when this
novel starts. The mixture of English traditions and Dutch ones make for an interesting
place to read about. The details in the narrative are fabulous, and although
they do slow down the pace a bit, they are well worth the time, since they
paint a vivid portrait of what life was like in that point in time in that
particular place. This all means that the first quarter of the novel is a bit
on the slow side, presenting the readers with all the characters and their
backgrounds. With all the fascinating details, I didn’t find it boring but I do
caution you to expect the slower pace. The second half of the book moves much
more quickly, with a nice sense of tension that is not always easy to achieve
in historical “thrillers”.

The characters, especially Blandine, are written in a
colorful way that makes them come alive in the reader’s head. Many are based on
real people, carefully researched, while others come straight from the author’s
imagination.

I do recommend this book for all lovers of
historical fiction and mysteries. One you get through the first quarter, you’ll
be taken in by the inspired story-telling.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Q: Have you ever read a book that you thought you would hate — ? Did you end up hating it? Did you end up loving it? Or would you never do that?

Yes, mainly because my sister begged me to read it. I knew I wouldn't like it, but I read it anyway. And I was right, absolutely hated it. It was Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. That book...the most boring and annoying I've ever read. I still complain to my sister about it. She's probably never going to recommend anything to me again!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

The stories of this novel in story form act together to present the young life a boy named Peter. Ranging from Peter at ages four to twelve, the stories focus on the moments in childhood that get buried in the mind but are never fully absorbed. Unlike most coming of age tales, Peter is never brought forward into adulthood. Rather, though the stories are reflective, the distance is short. Thus, instead of a how an adult became who they are, the result is a becoming–a sonar picture of the person Peter will be.

This is a collection of intriguing stories which is
a great example of what story collections can really be if done properly.

Throughout the stories, we follow Peter as he
maneuvers his way through childhood. It was risky of the author to write from
this viewpoint, since it is easy for the writing to feel “fake” when the main
character is a child. In this case, the narrative is so straight-forward, told
in such an innocent way, that the voice becomes poignant, highlighting the
cruelties that surround Peter’s childhood.

This is a collection with which we can easily
identify. We are immediately drawn in by the narrative voice. One of the gems in
the collection is “The Pipe”. It is a wholly surprising story that is written
with just the right amount of tension to give the whole scenario an ominous
quality. That story really took me by surprise.

I highly recommend this collection. Each one of
these stories will leave you thinking, which is the best thing we can expect
from writing.